This application is the national phase under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7371 of PCT International Application No. PCT/KR00/00998 which has an International filing date of Sep. 1, 2000, which designated the United States of America and was published in English.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a vegetable compartment in a refrigerator for storage of vegetables separate from other food in a cold storage room of a refrigerator.
2. Background of the Related Art
In general, separate from a general food storage chamber, the refrigerator has the vegetable compartment in a lower part of the cold storage room for storage of vegetables. As shown in FIG. 1, such a vegetable compartment is provided with a partition 6 for forming a vegetable storage space in the cold storage room 2, and a container 4 in the storage space. The container 4 having an opened top is covered by the partition 6 fitted to sidewalls 2a and 2b of the cold storage room 2, and opened/closed by pulling/pushing the container 4, i.e., by pulling the container 4, the opened top of the container 4 is exposed, through which vegetables may be stored or taken out.
In general, inside of the container 4 may be cooled, directly, or indirectly. However, even if the inside of the container 4 is cooled, an inside temperature of the container 4 is slightly higher than a temperature of the cold storage room 2. Actually, taking storage characteristics of vegetables into consideration, the inside temperature of the container 4 is set to maintain a temperature slightly higher than the temperature of the cold storage room 2, with a consequential temperature difference between the inside of the container 4 and the cold storage room 2 Particularly, while a top surface of the partition 6 is at a low temperature as the top surface is exposed to the cold storage room 2, a bottom surface of the partition 6 is at a relatively high temperature as the bottom surface is exposed to the inside of the container 4, to cause dewing in which moist inside of the container 4 with the relatively higher temperature is condensed on the bottom surface of the partition 6. As the cooling is kept on, the moist condensed on the bottom surface of the partition 6 grows into water drops, until the water drops drop into the container 4 as weight of the water drops is greater than a surface tension of the water drops. FIG. 2 illustrates the drop of the water drops formed on the bottom surface of the partition 6, schematically. At the end, the water drops accelerate decomposition of the vegetables resulting in earlier degradation of freshness of the stored vegetables.
In the meantime, the moist in air in the cold storage room 2 deposits on a surface of an evaporator to grow into frost because a surface temperature of the evaporator is very low during operation of the refrigerator. As this process is kept on, actually the cold storage room 2, more particularly, the inside of the container 4 is dried, to degrade the freshness of the stored vegetables, significantly.
There have been many efforts for solving such a problem, which will be explained, briefly. For preventing falling of the water drops, EP 0 505 171 B 1 discloses a partition having a plurality of grooves in a bottom surface to be mounted with a slope for discharge the water drops outside of the container. However, EP 0 505 171 B 1 has disadvantages in that the system is complicated and occupies much space because a separate member is required for collecting the water drops flowing along the sloped partition and discharging out of the refrigerator. Moreover, EP 0 505 171 B 1 fails to maintain humidity of the container appropriately, actually. And, Korean Utility Model publication No. 10-1997-14694, or Korean Patent Publication No. 10-1997-28396 discloses a humidity filter having active carbon which has an excellent adsorptivity mixed therein fitted inside of the container, for adsorbing moisture vaporized from the vegetables to maintain a humidity, as well as ethylene gas produced by oxidation as the air flows in. Korean Utility Model publication No. 10-1997-63487 discloses a lattice of housings formed in the bottom surface of the partition of the container, each of which forms a space opened to inside of the container having a shape memory net and a humidity filter fitted therein in succession, for absorbing the moisture vaporized from the vegetables and discharging the absorbed moisture when the container is dry. The shape memory net permits to discharge the moisture to the cold storage room when the absorbed moisture is excessive, for maintaining the humidity inside of the container constant.
However, the disclosures can not prevent the dewing intrinsically even if the humidity filter having active carbon mixed therein is fitted to an appropriate places on the bottom surface of the partition because the dewing on the bottom surface of the partition is caused by the temperature difference between the top surface and a bottom surface thereof. And, the periodic replacement of the humidity filter causes inconvenience and cost increase.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a vegetable compartment in a refrigerator that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a vegetable compartment in a refrigerator, which can prevent water drops formed by a temperature difference between a vegetable compartment and a cold storage room from falling down onto vegetables stored in the compartment.
Other object of the present invention is to provide a vegetable compartment in a refrigerator which can maintain a humidity in a container appropriately.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the vegetable compartment in a refrigerator includes a partition for forming a vegetable storage space in a cold storage room, a container for being accommodated in the vegetable storage space, and a cover over the container, the cover having water collecting means on a bottom surface.
The water collecting means includes a plurality of ribs formed to cross one another each having a fixed width and a fixed height extended downward, and a plurality of water collecting spaces formed by the ribs, and preferably further includes supplementary water collecting means for substantially increasing a surface area of the water collecting means.
Preferably, the supplementary water collecting means is a cavity formed at ends of the ribs at a cross of the ribs in a semispherical form.
Preferably, the supplementary water collecting means includes a supplementary rib in the water collecting space, and a supplementary water collecting space formed by the supplementary rib, to have a height lower than a height of the rib in a cross from, or circular form.
Preferably, the supplementary water collecting means includes a cavity formed at ends of the ribs, and a supplementary rib formed in the water collecting space and a supplementary water collecting space formed by the supplementary rib.
The water collecting means includes a plurality of metal strips each having a fixed width and a fixed thickness crossed one another, and a plurality of water collecting spaces formed by the strips, and preferably, the cover includes the water collecting means only.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vegetable compartment in a refrigerator including a partition for forming a vegetable storage space in a cold storage room, the partition having water collecting means on a bottom surface, and a container for being accommodated in the vegetable storage space
Different forms of the water collecting means can be applied regardless of the structure and function and have the same effect.
Thus, the present invention can make a stable hold of the water drops and maintain a humidity inside of the container at an appropriate level.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.